A tool of this general type is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,417 issued to Kurmis (the “Kurmis tool”), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The Kurmis tool has a tool body, on one end of which are cooperating jaws, the jaws being movable from an “open” position to a “closed” position. In their closed position, the jaws effectively form a “wrap-around” clamp. This wrap-around clamp is configured to be closed around a bundle of elongated items that are to be bound. In this closed position, the wrap-around clamp also forms a near-continuous guide for a tie strap that is used to encircle the elongated items to be bound by the tool. For this purpose, the jaws have, on their inwardly-directed edge, a guide groove which is connected to a tie strap guide located within the tool. The guide groove is configured to provide a pathway continuum for receiving the tail of the tie strap, the tie strap being air-ejectable, tail first, from a receiver within the tool.
The guide groove of the Kurmis tool is continuous if the tie strap is not used with a tie. The guide groove, however, is not continuous at the location at which, in the closed state, the jaws approach one another at their respective free ends when the tie strap is to be used with a tie. This is because the jaws each have a “cutout” at their free or distal ends. The cutouts of the Kurmis tool serve to form a free space in the closed state of the jaws for receiving a fastening element, such as a tie mount, a band eyelet or similar structure, by means of which the tie strap which is to be bound is fastened onto the carrying structure. The tie mount is configured to fit into the free space formed by the cutouts and supplements that region of the tie strap guide in the clamp which is missing. Overall, this effectively provides a continuous guide for the tie strap, but only when the clamps are in their closed state and then only when the clamps are engaged with the tie mount.
In the view of these inventors, there is a need to provide a tool of the type mentioned above but which avoids, or at least reduces, the disadvantage of having to position and place a tie mount between the jaw ends prior to application of the tie strap to the tie mount. What is also needed is a jaw configuration that ensures proper orientation of the tie mount relative to the tie strap and to the tie strap guide continuum such that the tie mount can be attached to the tie strap as the strap is drawn around and secured to the elongated items to be bundled.